Which river is the widest river in the world – opening up to a whopping 7 miles at a time? Let’s take a look!
What is a River?
A river is a natural flowing, moving watercourse, commonly freshwater. Usually, a river flows toward an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or even another river. There is no strict rule on how big a flow of water must be to be classified as a river. Rivers can vary in size. Small rivers are sometimes referred to as streams, brooks, or creeks.
How Many Rivers are in the World?
The answer to this question is somewhat complicated. Why? Because nobody has actually done the count to know how many rivers exist in the world. But one thing we know is that there are tens of thousands of rivers on earth! In fact, the United States alone has more than 250,000 rivers, amounting to 3.5 million miles of rivers. Still, there are some rivers long and wide enough to be recognized as ‘major rivers’; they have large volumes of water (over 620 miles) flowing through them every day. There are about 165 major rivers in the world. They have numerous tributaries and provide fresh water to billions of people across several countries. On a similar note, there are thousands of smaller rivers. But as we said earlier, the exact number of small and large rivers in the world is difficult to determine. Wikipedia published a list of 159 longest rivers on earth, with each river system at or exceeding over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
What is the Widest River in the World?
What about Rio de la Plata?
Some people argue that the Rio de la Plata should take the title for widest river in the world. It is nearly 140 miles wide at its “estuary,” the point where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Such rivers that flow out to sea in tidal regions tend to form wide funnel-like mouths referred to as estuaries – La Plata is an example of such a river. The largest estuary in the world is found at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river, draining the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. At 90 miles wide and 744 miles long, the estuary of the St. Lawrence river simply dwarfs anything any river can ever reach. So, since estuaries aren’t technically rivers, it’s only right not to put them into consideration in this article.
